Eurovision Song Contest Previews
The Eurovision Song Contest Previews are annually broadcast TV shows showcasing the entries into the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. They were inaugurated in 1971 for the contest in Dublin, Ireland, and have been provided by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to all participating countries ever since.O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books UK. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1. April 2010 All participants in the Eurovision Song Contest are required to submit a video of their entry to the EBU via the host broadcaster, to be distributed across the Eurovision network. From 1971 until the early 1990s, it was compulsory for all participants to broadcast the videos. Since the mid-1990s it has become optional. Broadcasters either submit a performance of the given song - usually taken from their local national final - or a music video of the entry, specifically filmed for the purpose. Occasionally countries rely on funding from their government tourism budget to produce the video, leading to highly commercial offerings highlighting the given country's natural beauty. Often songs would vary from the version that would be heard in the contest itself; either through a change in language or a variance between the length of the recorded version and the permitted live version, or through a variance in orchestration and arrangement. Early rules stated that the videos could not be broadcast in any less than two shows and the songs had to be broadcast in full. Later amendments allowed the videos to be broadcast incomplete, but that meant the length of each video still had to match. Generally speaking, the countries broadcast the shows in two parts, the entries divided as evenly as practicable between the two shows. In 1974, a two-night preview programme, Auftakt für Brighton (Prelude for Brighton), was coordinated by the German national broadcaster ARD in February and was hosted by the journalist Karin Tietze-Ludwig. It shares two special distinctions in that it was the first "preview"-type programme to be broadcast in many European countries simultaneously (rather than each national broadcaster showing their own preview programme), and also in that it aired nearly six weeks before the actual Contest, the earliest-ever airing of "preview week." In the same year, the French entry was broadcast by all the nations showing the previews, even though the song was withdrawn from the Eurovision final itself. Previously, in 1971, the Belgian preview video featured singers Nicole & Hugo who were forced to withdraw days before the Eurovision final due to illness, being replaced by Jacques Raymond & Lily Castel. In 1977, the previews were broadcast across Europe ahead of the original scheduled broadcast date of 2 April for the Eurovision final. When the contest was postponed to 7 May, this left a long gap between the preview shows airing and the final. It was also stated in the rule book that the name of the broadcasting TV station for each country be carried on screen to introduce the songs. But many broadcasters ignored this. For a period, the BBC were responsible for 'collecting' the preview videos and distributing them to the various participating countries. This has been carried out by the contest's host nation more recently. In recent years, the Nordic broadcasters (Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) have co-produced preview shows for broadcast across their region. From approximately 2000, the videos have been available online via the Eurovision website and most broadcasters upload them to their own, local Eurovision site. San Marino broadcaster SMtv televised the previews for the first time in 2013, showing the videos in multiple programmes from April 30-May 14 on a rotating basis, hosted by John Kennedy O'Connor.http://www.smtvsanmarino.sm/eurofestival-2013/critico-john-kennedy-connor SM RTV broadcast them again in 2014 with O'Connor presenting each entry on location in San Marino, on their terrestrial, satellite and online channels. UK Broadcasts In the United Kingdom, the BBC broadcast the programmes in two parts, every year from 1971-1994 on BBC1 and then again in the early 2000s (decade) on BBC Three in multiple shows. Generally, but by no means always, the songs were broadcast in the order they would appear in the contest, with the UK entry saved until the end. For 1979-1982, the songs were shown in a random order, despite host Terry Wogan insisting in 1979 that the songs were being shown in competition order during the broadcasts. With only two exceptions (1972 & 1973) the shows were broadcast on Sunday afternoons. In 1972 the shows were given a prime-time airing in the BBC1 evening schedule. From 1976 - 1985, the BBC provided a specifically filmed 'video' of the artist on location in the UK. In all other years, they have simply provided the performance from the national final, although often the artist's record company will also send their own commercially released video for use by the broadcasters, but these were never shown in the UK broadcasts. From 1984, the BBC included the contributing broadcasters acronym on screen for each entry. The UK broadcast details are as follows, with the countries listed in the order they were shown: 1971 - Host: Cliff Richard Broadcast: Sunday, 21 March & Sunday, 28 March. Part 1: Austria, Malta, Monaco, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium. Part 2: Italy, Sweden, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Finland, Norway, United Kingdom. 1972 - Host: Cliff Richard Broadcast: Monday, 13 March & Monday, 20 March. Part 1: Germany, France, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Malta, United Kingdom. Part 2: Finland, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Monaco, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands. 1973 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Saturday, 24 March & Saturday, 31 March. Part 1: Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia. Part 2: Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland, France, Israel, United Kingdom. 1974 - Host: David Vine Broadcast: Sunday, 24 March & Sunday, 31 March. Part 1: Finland, Spain, Norway, Greece, Israel, Yugoslavia. Part 2: Sweden, Luxembourg, Monaco, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom. 1975 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 9 March & Sunday, 16 March. Part 1: Netherlands, Ireland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Malta, Belgium. Part 2: Israel, Turkey, Monaco, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Italy, United Kingdom. 1976 - Host: Michael Aspel Broadcast: Sunday, 21 March & Sunday, 28 March. Part 1: Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Greece. Part 2: Finland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Monaco, France, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom. 1977 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 20 March & Sunday, 27 March. Part 1: Ireland, Monaco, Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Greece. Part 2: Israel, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Finland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom. 1978 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 9 April & Sunday, 16 April. Part 1: Ireland, Norway, Italy, Finland, Portugal, France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands. Part 2: Turkey, Germany, Monaco, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Israel, Austria, Sweden, United Kingdom. 1979 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 18 March & Sunday, 25 March. Part 1: Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Monaco, Greece, Switzerland, Israel. Part 2: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom. 1980 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 6 April & Sunday, 13 April. Part 1: Austria, Turkey, Luxembourg, Morocco, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands. Part 2: Germany, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, France, Belgium, United Kingdom. 1981 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 22 March & Sunday, 29 March. Part 1: Israel, Austria, Turkey, Luxembourg, Finland, Yugoslavia, Spain, Germany, France, Denmark. Part 2: Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden, United Kingdom. 1982 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 11 April & Sunday, 18 April. Part 1: Reprise of United Kingdom 1981, Portugal, Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom. Part 2: Medley Reprise of Sweden 1974, Ireland 1980 & Israel 1979, Israel, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Finland, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom. 1983 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 10 April & Sunday, 17 April. Part 1: France, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Greece, Netherlands. Part 2: Yugoslavia, Cyprus, Germany, Denmark, Israel, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Kingdom. 1984 - Host: Terry Wogan Broadcast: Sunday, 22 April & Sunday, 29 April. Part 1: Sweden, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Norway, Cyprus, Belgium, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands. Part 2: Yugoslavia, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, United Kingdom. 1985 - Host: Dave Lee Travis Broadcast: Sunday, 21 April & Sunday, 28 April. Part 1: Ireland, Finland, Cyprus, Denmark Spain, France, Turkey, Belgium, Portugal, Germany. Part 2: Israel, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Greece, United Kingdom. 1986 - Host: David Hamilton Broadcast: Sunday, 20 April & Sunday, 27 April. Part 1: Luxembourg, Yugoslavia, France, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Israel. Part 2: Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, United Kingdom. 1987 - Host: Ray Moore Broadcast: Sunday, 26 April & Sunday, 3 May. Part 1: Norway, Israel, Austria, Iceland, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Greece. Part 2: Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Cyprus, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, United Kingdom. 1988 - Hostess: Gloria Hunniford Broadcast: Sunday, 18 April & Sunday, 25 April. Part 1: Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany. Part 2: Austria, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, France, Portugal, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom. 1989 - Host: Ken Bruce Broadcast: Sunday, 23 April & Sunday, 30 April. Part 1: Italy, Israel, Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark. Part 2: Austria, Finland, France, Spain, Cyprus, Switzerland, Greece, Iceland, Germany, Yugoslavia, United Kingdom. 1990 - Host: Ken Bruce Broadcast: Sunday, 22 April & Sunday, 29 April. Part 1: Spain, Greece, Belgium, Turkey, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Iceland, Norway, Israel, Denmark, Switzerland. Part 2: Germany, France, Yugoslavia, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Cyprus Finland, United Kingdom. 1991 - Host: Ken Bruce Broadcast: Sunday, 21 April & Sunday, 28 April. Part 1: Yugoslavia, Iceland, Malta, Greece, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Sweden, France, Turkey, Ireland. Part 2: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Israel, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Italy, United Kingdom. 1992 - Hostess: Gloria Hunniford Broadcast: Sunday, 26 April & Sunday, 3 May. Part 1: Spain, Belgium, Israel, Turkey, Greece, France, Sweden, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Iceland. Part 2: Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Yugoslavia, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom. 1993 - Hostess: Gloria Hunniford Broadcast: Sunday, 2 May & Sunday, 9 May. Part 1: Italy, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, Malta, Iceland, Austria, Portugal, France. Part 2: Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Netherlands, Croatia, Spain, Cyprus, Israel, Norway, United Kingdom. 1994 - Host: Terry Wogan with analysis by Peter Snow Broadcast: Sunday, 17 April & Sunday, 24 April. Two minutes of each song broadcast. Including Eurovision Mastermind with four fan contestants. The competition was won by David Bridgman representing United Kingdom. The other contestants were Johnny O'Mahony (Ireland), Marc Dierckx (Belgium) and Henry Klok (Netherlands). Prizes presented by Katie Boyle. Part 1: Guest Johnny Logan. Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Cyprus, Iceland, United Kingdom, Croatia, Portugal, Switzerland, Estonia, Romania, Malta. Part 2: Guest Jahn Teigen. Netherlands, Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Russia, Poland, France. 2002 - Hostess: Lorraine Kelly Broadcast: Monday, 20 May, Tuesday, 21 May, Wednesday, 22 May, Thursday, 23 May & Friday, 24 May. 2003 - Hostess: Lorraine Kelly Broadcast: Monday, 19 May, Tuesday, 20 May, Wednesday, 21 May, Thursday, 22 May & Friday, 23 May. References Category:BBC Television programmes Category:British music television programmes Category:Eurovision Song Contest Category:Singing competitions Category:European Broadcasting Union Category:1971 British television programme debuts Category:1971 British television programme endings